{read take me away {part one} here}

While we were sleeping away our first night in St. Lucia, our new {angry} friend Chantal was making a way to introduce herself.

And when we looked out our doors, this is what we saw…

But why let a little storm rain on our honeymoon parade?  We had breakfast {for 10} delivered to our room and began making plans for the week!

With the package Gary selected, it allowed us to work with some private concierges who gave us recommendations for excursions we were interested in and they took care of all the reservations for us. It was so nice not to have to worry about the details, especially post-wedding details!

On Tuesday night we headed to our first dinner and said a few prayers for good weather the rest of the week.

Those prayers were {thankfully!} answered when we woke up to sunny skies on Wednesday!  Since our excursions were planned for Thursday and Friday, we spent most of Wednesday by the beach…

by the pool…

eating pizza…

taking a quick boat ride…

and snorkeling around the bay!

After all of our fun-in-the-sun, we ended the day with sunburns, pasta, two desserts, and full hearts.

Not to mention, this handsome sitting across from me at dinner…

Our first big adventure as mr. & mrs. started on Monday morning approximately 8 hours after we left our reception.

And by Monday morning, I mean earllllly morning, as in we had to wake up at 4am to make our 6:40am, only-way-out-of-Atlanta flight.  So while we felt like this…

… this image also captures our feelings.

But let’s back things up a few months, shall we? After we were engaged and wedding planning was in full swing, G and I discussed our honeymoon. Our discussion went a little something like this:

R: “I want you to plan our honeymoon so I don’t have to think about other decisions.  My only request is that we not spend our first week of marriage in a cabin, but preferably near a beach.”

G: “Got it.”

And for the plan he put together, I give him an A++!  With a couple of recommendations from friends and some work with a travel agent, we were headed to St. Lucia!

After our early flight to Miami and one more to St. Lucia, we arrived that afternoon and took a ride to our resort which was about an hour and a half away.  One thing I loved about the ride was that it gave us a chance to see the island.  St. Lucia is a volcanic island, has beautiful water, and also rain forest!

We arrived at Sandals Grande St. Lucian (one of the three Sandals resorts on the island) and got to our beautiful room with a view of the water!

The rest of our afternoon consisted of room service (why walk somewhere when they will bring it to you?), naps, and more room service.  And while we were napping, a tropical storm was brewing over our heads…

{first photo by the wonderful Amber Phinisee}